East Massapequa, Massapequa, Massapequa Park, Plainedge, South Farmingdale and Long Island, New York

As the weeks approach February 24th, which will be the 40th anniversary of my “Pets” column in the Babylon Beacon, there will be excerpts from columns first published each decade. Last week spotlighted two columns from the 1980s, so this week will feature two columns from the 1990s.

March 18, 1993: Requiem for “Mr. Pasty”, a dog squeak toy that died suddenly at the tender age of 13. He contains so many pet memories that I hate to part with his remains. Mr. Pasty whose real name is “Pooch Paste” was shaped like a rubber toothpaste tube with a dog head on top. He was purchased as the result of a silly brainstorm. Back then in my classroom, I had hatched two ducklings in a homemade Styrofoam cooler turned into an incubator. Later this design was recalled as a fire hazard.

One of the ducklings had paratyphoid disease, a common ailment, and had to be isolated from the other. Brought home for intensive care, they pined away for each other, quacking nonstop. Mr. Pasty was supposed to be the duck pacifier­— the idea being that the healthy baby would step on it, hear the squeak and think he had a pal. The plan didn’t work. The duckling was too light and the plastic too hard. Their quacks and our sleepless nights continued.

My Afghan Trevor showing off in his Gloria Swanson outfit about 1994, a year after he murdered Mr. Pasty, the beloved squeak toy.

Shortly after, Mr. Pasty was passed down to my first Afghan puppy, Juliet, but she ignored him because the concept of squeak toys was beneath her dignity. That was until her first and only heat. After, she developed a false pregnancy, with milk and all, Mr. Pasty, plus socks, became her pseudo puppies. She smothered him and refused to leave him, even to go outside. We had to distract her to hide “her firstborn.”

Later, poor Mr. Pasty became the surrogate Mom for many foster kittens, especially the tiniest orphans who snuggled with him. He was also offered to three more Afghans. The next two, Alfie and Alan, also snobs, had little use for him. But the latest, my puppy Trevor became his assassin. During Trevor’s first week here, he found the unsuspecting Mr. Pasty resting under a cat bed. In less than five minutes, Trevor had ripped off his ear, nose and mortally wounded his tube. I rescued Mr. Pasty before his nemesis could finish him off. But, now, I can’t stand to throw the tattered toy away. For the time being, Mr. Pasty will lie in state on top of the refrigerator.

April 1. 1995: Here’s a recent study that will never win a Nobel Prize. A Texas A & M University research team tested a group of dogs to see which foods they would raid bags of garbage to obtain. Out of 27 foods, cooked liver and onions was the preferred meal of the pooch pirates. Couldn’t we have told them that and saved a lot of muss and fuss?

However, the team felt this finding was significant because dogs’ wild cousins- wolves and coyotes-are known to consume the liver before muscle tissue of their prey. The wild relatives, of course, skip the onions, because they, unlike these researchers, remember onions can be toxic to canids.

Freshly baked chicken and freshly fried chicken come in second and third in this crazy taste test. It was clear cooked meat and cooked meat odors are more enticing than raw meat. (After all, these are dogs of the ‘90s- the microwave generation.)

Fresh vegetables and fruit were way down on the list of favorites. They finished just one notch above shredded paper. Don’t the researchers know dogs are not interested in paper that is already ripped? They prefer to steal your Visa bill or typed term paper sitting on the dining room table. There’s more sport and attraction in tearing up intact papers that are important to us.

Adoptable Pets at Babylon Town Shelter (631-643-9270) 80 New Highway, N. Amityville: Logan #23-11 is a two-year-old Husky who likes to run outside. He is not fully evaluated yet but he would do best in a Husky-experienced home. Jane #2-610 is a lovely 10-month-old classic calico cat.

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